Russia's Medvedev Meets Putin’s Opponents for First Time

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- President Dmitry Medvedev met
organizers of protests against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for
the first time since alleged fraud in December parliamentary
polls provoked the biggest unrest since the 1990s.

“Our political system is of course far from ideal and most
of those present are critical of it, sometimes very harshly
so,” Medvedev told the meeting today, according to a transcript
posted on the Kremlin website. “The time has come to be more
active” in changing the political system, he said.

Putin, 59, who has been in power for 12 years, is forecast
to get a new six-year term in March 4 presidential elections. He
has rejected opposition calls for a re-run of the Dec. 4
legislative vote, which his political rivals say was rigged to
inflate the score of his ruling United Russia party from 30 to
about 50 percent.

The organizers of protests in December and February, which
attracted tens of thousands of people in major Russian cities,
have vowed to mount even bigger rallies if Putin wins the
presidency.

Medvedev, 46, who agreed in September to replace Putin as
prime minister so that the Russian leader could return to the
Kremlin, has submitted legislation to make it easier for parties
to register. He withdrew a proposal that would have reserved
half the seats in the lower house of parliament for independent
lawmakers.

Legitimate Elections

Sergei Baburin, an opposition activist who attended the
meeting, said that Medvedev had promised to enact political
changes that also include restoring direct elections for
governors before he steps down as president in May.

Medvedev told the participants that the December elections
were legitimate and the presidential vote is also proceeding in
a legal manner, Baburin said. At the same time, the president
described the protests as an acceptable way to show the
authorities their mistakes. “The government must be strong but
not overweening,” Medvedev said, according to Baburin.

Putin is projected to win next month on the first round
with 58.6 percent of the vote, according to a poll published
today by the state-run All-Russian Center for the Study of
Public Opinion.

The Russian leader pledged honest elections in March when
asked in December what he can offer the country as a New Year’s
gift, after saying he didn’t need “any manipulation” to win.
The prime minister in November said foreign powers were seeking
to intervene in elections by financing civil-society groups.

Putin served as president from 2000 to 2008 and then moved
to the premiership to comply with constitutional term limits,
backing his protégé Medvedev to take his place.